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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “in text”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “in text”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

eRecht24 Legal Texts shows at wp.org #11 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 50K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Back In Stock Notifier for WooCommerce | WooCommerce Waitlist Pro places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 122 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #1 2 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Image Alt Text 10K+ · 5.0★ (56) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Text To Speech TTS Accessibility 4K+ · 4.8★ (92) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too low 7 DTX – Dynamic Text Extension for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.7★ (99) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 Text Unfold For Elementor 3K+ · 4.6★ (7) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 Auto Alt Text 4K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #9 ↓1 10 Animated Text Block – Add Typing and Looping Text Effects 4K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 Back In Stock Notifier for WooCommerce | WooCommerce Waitlist Pro 20K+ · 4.7★ (122) wp.org #19 ↑5 8 too low 12 Alt Text AI – Automatically generate image alt text for SEO and accessibility 20K+ · 4.7★ (35) wp.org #22 ↓2 10 too low 13 ResponsiveVoice Text To Speech 7K+ · 3.9★ (34) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 Alt Text Tools 800+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 AI Alt Text Generator 2K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #12 3 too high 16 JVM Rich Text Icons 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 Re-Add Text Justify Button 20K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #10 7 too high 18 Paste As Plain Text By Default 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 Keep Emoticons as Text 700+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #24 ↓2 5 too low 20 Text to Speech – TTSWP 200+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #21 1 too low 21 Marquee Running Text 5K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #13 8 too high 22 ELEX WooCommerce Product Price Custom Text (Before & After Text) and Discount 2K+ · 4.6★ (10) wp.org #23 ↓2 1 too low 23 Text Typing – grab attention with animated typing headlines 3K+ · 3.8★ (6) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too high 24 eRecht24 Legal Texts 50K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 13 too high

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.